Happy Mother's day

"Some day you’ll miss your dear loving mother, you’ll wish you had her back in your home, you’ll wish you had her back, back in your little shack, some day you’ll miss her, when she is gone.” These are words to a song my mom would sing to me when I was a little girl. I did not get it at the time, now I do.

This year I decided not to mope around – I decided to do something for someone else. My nephew and his wife have 3 children under the age of 4. So on Saturday my son and I took them off her hands for almost the entire day. When my son was younger, I always wished that I would have a day off. My mother would help when she could, but then she became ill and subsequently passed away. After that point, it was just the 2 of us.

My mother’s day gift was the smile on her face. She was able to get some well deserved rest. Me – I sprouted a few more grey hairs. But it was well worth it.

Made her a necklace with each of her kids birthstone – she loved it.

Passion or say when

A few days ago my son and I were watching Opra's next big thing - she chose 10 people to promote their invention on her show. One of the judges advise the contestants to be passionate about their product when they presented. Hi comments stayed with me - I realized that although designing and creating are my passion, I am usually a bit unenthusiastic when I speak to others about. I do not know why I do this - look at Martha Stewart; she has made a fortune using her creativity and love of design - so why am I so subdued when it comes to my creative side? Well what ever the reason is, it stops today.

Here are a few things that I have been working on:

One on my latest obsessions is designing wine glass charms – I do not know why, (I do not drink wine or any other alcoholic beverage) I guess I am dissatisfied with the ones that are currently on the market. Plus, they are pretty and since ‘bling’ is the order of the day, why not add some to your wine or drinking glass.


I was a bit worried that the variation in colors or styles needed to be a bit more distinct, but I have decided that a good way to know when to say when is when you are unable to tell which charm. I am both creating and helping mankind;)

One of my customers told me that she uses the charms with the suction cups as sun catchers. She sticks them to her window and sunlight shining through the crystals creates some ‘groovy’ patterns. If you happen to purchase or own any of my designs, I would love to hear your stories about unique ways in which you use them.

Scribbles

A few years ago I was one of the managers at a major publishing company in Boca Raton Florida. I managed their e-book department. Since this was a burgeoning field, the higher ups required several meetings. (Have you noticed that the people in charge are often twits? - I think the official job of middle managers is to educate their VP. Unfortunately some VP has such huge egos, that they resist the input of their subordinates). But I digress. After a while, the meetings became so frequent, that I became bored. To entertain myself, I would write my notes in patois (a Jamaican dialect) or I would scribble.


Our meetings were always the same, we discussed the same topics (we would adjourn by discussing the time and place for the next meeting, where we would review the meeting we just has - confused. Eventually, taking notes in Patois was no longer necessary, because the topics were the same day after day. So the scribbling took over. I found myself scribbling the same basic shapes - soon, I began to wonder if I could make the scribbles into something useful.
About a year after I left the job with the publishing company, I was on my way to pick up my son and I had a light bulb moment. I was waiting for the light to turn green and I started to scribble the same image on piece of paper I had in my car. I returned home and started shaping the scribbles with wire. As I was shaping the wire the true light bulb moment came to me - I would make wine glass charms.

Bet you have not seen these before:)

And this is how you use them - Now there is no need to ask which glass is mine


Drink or wine glass charms....
are everywhere these days. I like to think of them as jewelry for my stemware. They make a great hostess gift and a wonderful addition to any table. They make finding one's own wine glass easier. If you don't serve wine, they are just a pretty on the stem of a water goblet or dessert glass! You can keep them to use at future gatherings or let your guests take them as a little memento of the occasion. And what a cute wedding favor with the couple's new initials.


See more @ www.almatthewsetc.com

Spring

A love Spring

So Spring warm weather upon with you watch
bloom flowers: Tulip, Orchid, Cherry ect..
That awake Springtime beautiful blue sky

With me, feeling of peace with Spring
Pollen of the flowers trees everywhere
To let you know the Spring coming
Green grass with flowers fill us with joy

Outdoor full of activities
Spring gently warm our souls
To the Spring 's love within you and me forever.

Natasa Tocuc

I love taking pictures, I am not very good, my pictures are usually out of focus, but I have a lot of fun trying. Plus, I have a 2GB flash card, that way, at least 1 of the 600 shots I take might turn out.
Here are a few of my spring photos.




Naturally, I had to mix in some of my handmade items...Imagine if jewelry grew on trees:)

Here is another poem - enjoy

Spring Is Here

Spring arrived today
Aglow in spring time fashion
Spring fever follows

Spring's Dresser changed her
Into winter's chilled soft wrap
Without care or flare

Spring flaunted her smile -
Everything she loved slowly
Awakened in praise

Dorothy (Alves) Holmes

Have a little faith in me

Recently I got scared, I lost my faith, and I questioned God. A few years ago I was making a lot of money working @ a job I hated, I was miserable. I decided to leave and follow my passion – it took me 10 years, but I did it. But then, I got side tracked – I was too busy taking care of everyone else’s needs, listening to everyone’s concerns, people were pulling me in all directions. I soon found out that friends can make you or break you. If you are thin skinned, you can be a failure in a heartbeat.
With all the noise in my head, I decided to reenter corporate America. I accepted a job with a man I liken to Tony Soprano. Wow, what a roller coaster ride that was. I do not want to bore you with the details of the jobs in this post – let’s just say that people in the office were taking bets on my longevity. (In a later post I will share the letter I wrote to the board of directors).
Anyway, I am back on track, but I must confess that I was plagued with self doubt until I got this quote via e-mail form a friend:-

The greatest stumbling block to achieving anything of importance in life is circumstances. We let circumstances get us off the hook when we should be giving it everything we've got. More dreams are shattered and goals lost because of circumstances than any other single factor.
Successful people use circumstances to catapult them on toward their goal, while the masses use them as road blocks. A circumstance may cause a detour in your life but you should never permit it to stop you.
Bob Proctor
You may believe in God or the laws of attraction – whatever you believe in, have faith, dispel negativity.